City lawyers callously dismissed the claims of the family of a young woman left unable to walk or talk by inept EMTs, warning them, “You can’t win this case.’’
But the get-tough tactic was no match for the truth — delivered in a straight-out-of-the-movies Bronx courtroom exchange where their lawyer got the emergency responders to say that the city itself had disciplined them for the tragic screw-up.
The result was an epic jury award — $172 million.
“Three city lawyers . . . frankly offered nothing, not a red cent. They actually said, ‘You can’t win this case,’ ” lawyer Thomas Moore told The Post on Thursday.
Moore’s client, Tiffany Applewhite, was a 12-year-old straight-A student applying to prestigious Stuyvesant HS when she went into cardiac arrest in 1998 after suffering a bad reaction to a routine shot for an eye condition.
The two EMTs who responded failed to bring the most basic of equipment: oxygen, a defibrillator — or even a working watch.
As a result, the tragic woman, now 29, can’t speak, requires a feeding tube, a wheelchair and wears diapers.
Moore said the city thought it could win its case — before he got the EMTs to admit on the stand this month that they’d been suspended for 30 days over the botched job.
The city’s lawyers said they never disclosed the suspensions because the supervisor’s log and a transcript of the EMTs’ disciplinary hearings had vanished, Moore said.
A city Law Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
Moore said the stunning testimony turned the case. As the jury was about to start deliberations earlier this week, the city suddenly offered $8 million to settle, he said.
But Moore stood firm. And like the Paul Newman character in the film “The Verdict,” it paid off as the jury Wednesday found the city 100 percent responsible for the Bronx woman’s debilitating injuries.
The city has vowed to appeal the verdict. But Tiffany’s mother, Samantha Applewhite, wants to make a personal plea to Mayor de Blasio.
“I hope the mayor throws out the appeal,” Applewhite said. “It’s been 16 years already. I don’t think I can survive another trial. We can only go through so much.”
Tiffany’s last words to her. when she was a bubbly 12-year-old who loved singing gospel and playing outdoors were, “Mommy, I can’t breathe” followed by “Mommy, I can’t see.”
Said a teary Samantha, “I’d give anything to have her the way she used to be.”